


Redwing

by nbwriter



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky Barnes Has Cats, Ficlet, M/M, Meet-Ugly, Sam Wilson is a Gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 11:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18387443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nbwriter/pseuds/nbwriter
Summary: Bucky Barnes is the owner of an asshole cat that likes to catch birds. This time, she brought home Sam Wilson's pet bird, Redwing.





	Redwing

_Tweet, tweet._

“I know, you’re angry.”

_Chiiiirp!_

“Okay, look, I didn’t do it, alright? It’s not my fault I have the world’s biggest asshole cat. Be thankful I saved you from her.”

The red canary was sitting in a cage that Bucky had had to rush out and buy after Mimi brought home yet another live bird. Mimi was always pulling shit like that. She liked to bring home her spoils of hunts for Bucky, as well as having an obsession with unraveling the toilet paper rolls in his bathroom. And he didn’t even want to think about the scratch marks up and down the length of all his furniture.

Get a cat, Steve had said. It’ll help you with anxiety, Steve had said. 

There was a clatter and then the sounds of a cat screeching and the bird tweeting angrily, and Bucky looked over just in time to see Mimi with her paw stuck through the bars of the cage and the canary pecking at her paw. “Damnit, Mimi, stop!” he called, causing the gray striped tabby to hurriedly slink off back to her place under the couch so she could swipe at Bucky’s ankles whenever he stood up. 

Which he did just moments later when there was a knock at the door. Hissing, Bucky very narrowly sidestepped the little paw that swiped at him from below the couch. When he opened the door, Steve was standing there, a crumpled piece of paper held in his hand. 

Steve took one look at Bucky’s tired face and asked sympathetically, “Bird keeping you up?” When Bucky nodded, he held out the paper for his friend to see. “Well, then I got good news about that.”

The paper that Steve was holding was a missing pet ad for the bird, who was supposedly named “Redwing.” That was a stupid name considering the whole bird was red, but whatever. His owner, a man named Sam Wilson, was supposedly looking for him.

“Shit,” Bucky breathed. “He has an owner?” Which, he had figured he did, considering you didn’t see red canaries out in the wild, but it was a different story when you’d have to actually face some guy and explain to him that your cat had nearly killed his pet bird.

Steve patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck with that one, pal.”

\---

The next day, Bucky found himself fidgeting on the stoop of the apartment that had been addressed on the missing ad. The cage was clutched in his hand, a blanket thrown haphazardly over the top of it. Were you supposed to cover a birdcage when you carried it? Fuck, Bucky didn’t know, all he knew was that when he carried Mimi in a cat carrier she got sick and he didn’t want to have to explain to the guy that his bird had been caught by a cat and gotten sick.

Knocking on the door, Bucky could have sworn he felt his heart stop when the guy opened the door just a few moments later. The guy, Sam, he supposed, was unfairly attractive. His deep brown eyes were furrowed at Bucky as he assessed the scene and his dark skin was shiny with sweat, as he was shirtless, looking as though he had just gotten back from a run. His mouth was parted, and Bucky tried not to notice how pretty his lips were, as though he were about to ask Bucky a question, but Bucky cut him off before he could.

“It was your fault!” he blurted as he manhandled the cage into Sam’s chest, Redwing letting out an annoyed chirp as he fluttered against the bars.

Sam’s eyebrow raised in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

Bucky shifted his weight, looking anywhere except into Sam’s eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, wetting his lips. “Y’know, if you let your bird outside can you really blame a cat for wanting to catch it? Clearly, you need to take better care of your pets.”

“Your… your cat caught my bird?” he asked, lifting the blanket off the cage and examining Redwing in great detail. Thankfully, Bucky had been able to shoo Mimi away before she did any real damage to the bird.

“Yeah, but he’s fine now, I swear! I saved him!” Bucky could have sworn that he saw Sam’s lips twitch up into a smile, but he was probably just getting his hopes up. He was just lucky that Sam hadn’t decked him yet.

Bucky looked back up at Sam’s face to see that he was gazing at him intensely, as though he had just asked him a question. It occurred to Bucky that he had zoned out there for a few seconds. “What?” he asked, and this time he was sure that Sam was smiling at him.

Sam shifted the cage down to hold it at his side. “I said, what’s your name?”

“Oh, uh… Bucky.”

Stepping to the side, Sam inclined his head into the interior of his apartment. “You wanna come in?”

Bucky blinked rapidly up at Sam, not sure that he had heard him right. “Why would you want me to do that?”

“You can tell me exactly what happened while I check Redwing out and make sure that he’s okay. And besides,” Sam paused a moment and smiled at Bucky, “he might miss you, otherwise. Because apparently you've been taking such good care of him the last week.”

Bucky gazed back at Sam in disbelief. Yeah, he could play it off as wanting to check on Redwing, but there was no doubt now that Sam was _flirting_ with him. Well. Two could play at this game. Mustering all the confidence he could, Bucky turned on the charm, hoping that he seemed a lot braver than he felt. He winked at Sam, patting him on the chest as he slipped past him into the apartment. "Don't feel like you have to put a shirt on."

Laughing, Sam let Bucky slip into the apartment before following him, the door swinging shut after them.


End file.
